Wii Want to Play!

Bryson has taken a liking to our new Wii! After watching his father and grandparents play just a few times, he seems to have it all figured out... grunts, motions, cheers and all!! You should see him copy his Auntie Mar-Mar when he watches her play!

A visit from Nana and Papa...

Bryson enjoyed a visit with his grandparents after Christmas. It was so nice that they could stop over on their way to Atlanta. Bryson really like his Papa's new camera and had a lot of fun trying to figure out how it worked!

Who's toys are they??

We're pretty sure that my dad and Nate are enjoying Bryson's new race track a little TOO much!

Christmas Day

After breakfast at home we headed to Gammie and Poppie's house for a fun filled day of presents and yummy food! Bryson had a great time opening presents. His favorite gift was of course his new kitchen. It kept him so occupied all morning that we had to put present opening for him on hold until later in the day. He even cooked up a little Nerd soup with his daddy's stocking candy.

Another favorite gift of Bryson's was actually MY new grill pan. Who knows where he was headed with it but boy was he on a mission!!

Clothing wasn't a big interest to Bryce but that was to be expected. He did try everything on... his head... after opening clothes. That was funny to see! Thanks Grammie for the whole new wardrobe!

Later in the afternoon, Nanie joined us with even more presents! Bryson was very entertaining when he opened up his new alphabet mat and promptly climbed on top of it to show everyone his touchdown skills. You can just imagine a room full of adults following the motions of a 17 month old and cheering him on along the way. (Notice Nanie in the background.)

Christmas Morning

Hopefully we'll soon be able to figure out how to post a video to show Bryson opening his presents from Santa as I forogt to take any still shots. I did however grab a few shots of him enjoying his breakfast!

Christmas Eve

We enjoyed a very nice Christmas Eve with my parents, Jordan, Grandma and Papa. Lynda was even able to join us in what I hope will become a new tradition. Bryson was quite the ham all evening and really enjoyed opening presents. He was all tuckered out by the time we headed home... and rather crabby.

What a ham!

Bryson now poses for the camera! He smiles, scrunches his nose and tilts his head! And of course, he has to come look at the camera screen after you take his picture so he can see how he looks! He's so over the top, it's hilarious!

Trying out the sled again...

Now that our area is completely covered in snow, we decided to take a ride around the block in Bryson's new sled. He got the biggest kick of going down the driveway and stopping by each of his buddies houses to drop off our Christmas cards. Unfortunately the fun didn't last long when Bryson quickly decided it was nap time!

My buddy Luca

I have had the pleasure of watching my friend Amy's little guy Luca while she substitutes for another teacher on maternity leave. We get to hang out with Luca a couple of times a week. Bryson really enjoys having Luca around and it's nice to see him learning to interact with someone his own age. The boys like watching their cartoon in the morning while they snack on cereal and puching each other around on the dino car. They have races up the stairs to go take their naps and sometimes they hold hands and share toys in the car! It's taken a while but Bryson has finally learned to say Luca.... but it comes out Goo-ca. Makes me smile everytime! (Luca calls Bryce 'B'.)

A visit with Maya...

Maya came to visit today! We sure miss having her around... hopefully if Bryson can learn to share better, her mommy will let her come and play more often!

Mommy's helper...

Nothing beats teaching your child how to use the Swifer!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bryson, Nate and I just wanted to let you know how thankful we are for you, our family and friends!
This Thanksgiving we made the trek to Saginaw Michigan to visit Nate's parents! Bryson did pretty good on the five (almost six) hour drive there, though we broke it up with a trip to Olive Garden and Target! We also discovered the wonder of portable DVD players!! God bless the person that invented them! So 5 Baby Einstien videos later we made it save and sound. Bryson took some time to warm up to his Nana and Papa but made everyone smile with his new word, 'Nana'.

Since there was a decent amount of snow on the ground, we decided to take Bryce out to play. He tried sledding and of course loved it! We built a snow man for him that was just his height. He thought that was pretty funny. He also like his Uncle Benno teaching him how to throw snowballs!

We enjoyed seeing Uncle Tim and Aunt Paula as well, though we missed Grandma and Grandpa Buckert! (Bryson loved the plane by the way and plays with it daily!)

Happy Halloween!

Oh what fun, Halloween when you're one. Bryson learned a new word today, can-ee, which is what he calls the yummy suckers that he kept receiving all day... Note to self, giving your one year old a sucker is both messy and not fun to try to take away!! We had lots of fun visiting Grammie and Poppie and they're crazy neighbors house! Interestingly enough, Bryson and Maya both took a liking (more like an obsession for Bryce) to the 12 foot animated monster in their front yard. It was all very surreal!

After visiting, we headed back home with Maya to do some major trick or treating in our neighborhood. It was lots of fun for Bryce to hang out with all his little buddies and it was so nice for so many people to think of our little guys, giving them age-appropriate treats for halloween (like goldfish crackers and sippy cups)! We then had a little pizza party at our house with the neighborhood gang and finally put our hyper little one to bed! All in all it was a fun day.... long, but fun!

*Please excuse the purple walls... something is wrong with my camera!!

Happy Birthday Auntie Mar-Mar!

Bryson's Auntie Mar-Mar (Marlene) had a birthday, (don't worry we won't tell anyone which one), and we got to hang out with Maya. And wouldn't you know Maya decided to impress us all with her latest trick of walking... across our kitchen!! It was so fun to live those 'first-step' type moments all over again. Now the two of them chase each other around and stay quite busy together!! It was also tons of fun to give them a bath together... I'm still not sure the bathroom has dried out all the way from the splashing! Thankfully we got a few funny pics to embarass them with later in life!! Hehe!

Bryson's Drawer

For about a week straight, every evening Bryson would get into the drawer with all the baggies and bring them to me... one at a time until he had emptied the box. I decided the best way to stop this was to convert that drawer to Bryson's Drawer. A special place for him to put his toys or for me to put little surprises for him. Well the idea caught on rather quickly. On a daily basis you can find anything from coasters, remotes, hats, pieces of cardboard, to toys, hats and even iPhones. Whenever something can't be found in the house we now know where to look!

Is this a trick?

Nope, Halloween has not come early! Bryson is lucky enough to have 2 costumes... so he wore one today just for fun! Psst! It glows in the dark! (HI DA! Miss You in Taiwan)

Mommy's little helper...

Bryson decided to help me clean out the pantry... somehow we ended up with a box of Cherios dumped on the floor... hmmm...

Culturing Bryson

On Monday, Marlene and I decided to be brave and bring the kiddos downtown. We first spent some time at the Shedd Aquarium. Both Bryson and Maya were enthralled with the big tank, they especially loved Nickel the (giagantic) Turtle and the Sting Ray area where they could walk over the water filled with sting rays.

After the aquarium we stopped for some quick photo ops despite the rain. We then went to the Field Museum for lunch and a quick look around.... before his naps (hurray) Bryson couldn't seen to get enough of Sue, one of the Field Museums main attractions!

We all made it through the day in one piece and can't wait to try it again!

A visit to the Apple Farm!

This weekend we went to the Apple Farm in Michigan. Bryson went on his very first hayride. He liked the bumps and the tractor that was pulling us. He especially liked his poppie showing him the "ins and outs" of the farm.

After the hayride Bryce went to play on the playground. He really enjoyed the car-shaped swings and the super fast slide! We then headed over to see the animals. Bryce didn't quite know what to make of the goats... he thought they were 'ggggs' his word for dogs!

We picked our very own apples and Bryson of course had to test the merchandise! It was hard to tell what he liked better, the fresh apple or the apple doughnuts that grammie gave him in the car.

We tried one more time to get him to take a cute picture with the hay and pumpkins but had no luck. Regardless it was a fun trip.... (I liked the visit to the Chocolate Garden!! Mmmm overpriced truffles!)